1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an improved performance saddle designed to eliminate pinching and enhance the optimum performance of a horse.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
A major problem in fitting a saddle is that the saddle, including the tree and panels, tends to concentrate weight over localized areas, creating pressure points. Bruising of the horse's back is likely to result whenever the saddle creates localized pressure points between the horse's back and the saddle. Excessive weight concentration can further lead to the development of sores, pinching of the withers, and other painful conditions that can reduce the performance of the horse.
Saddles have been in use for centuries. The English saddle tree has kept approximately the same shape and has been made primarily of wood for hundreds of years. The latest major advancement in saddles trees, excluding the use of new materials such as plastics, was the design changes proposed by Count Ilias Toptani after World War II, including the incorporation of spring steel attachments into the design to allow the tree more elasticity combined with flexibility. The laminated wood form of the tree is created by hand on a mold. The hardware, including spring steel parts, stirrup bars and leather coverings is attached with rivets, staples, and nails. New innovations on saddle designs are few and not well documented.
There are few indications of how different the first English saddle trees were from the tree which is in common use today. A major change in saddles and trees for English riding occurred midway through the 20th century. After the Second World War, Count Ilias Toptani had a great influence on saddle design improvements. Toptani wanted to create a saddle that would conform to the basic principle of equitation: the rider should be in balance with the horse at all times by centering his or her weight over the horse's center of balance. Toptani created a new saddle tree for this purpose which had seven differences from the trees before.
1) pronounced dip in the seat PA1 2) spring seat instead of rigid PA1 3) waist or twist (width of tree) shaped to lie equidistant with the horse's back on either side and narrowed considerably. PA1 4) the stirrup bar was moved forward and to the inside so that it was recessed PA1 5) the points were cut off short (previously, points were as long as four inches below the attachment point of the bar) PA1 6) the head of the saddle sloped forward from the points instead of being vertical PA1 7) the reinforcements were made of alloy to lighten the tree
The Toptani saddle tree had advantages and disadvantages. It positioned the rider in the center of the saddle. The shortened points allowed better fitting of the saddle to the horse's back and removed interference with shoulder movement, and the spring tree made the saddle more resilient and increased the rider's comfort. This tree allowed the influence of the rider's seat to be transmitted more directly to the horse. The problems were that the tree was so narrow that the weight of the rider was concentrated over a small area instead of spread over the bearing surface of the back, and the stirrup placement could create soreness in the horse's back if the rider rode with short stirrups for a long period of time. This tree was soon improved by widening the waist and reducing the slope of the head, and it became the saddle tree which is seen in almost all English riding saddles today.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,734 provides a flexible saddle which distributes the combined weight of saddle and rider through the deformation of flexible skirts that conform to a horse's back and contact the same over a large surface area. Two spanning elements are affixed to flexible skirts at four points (two opposed forward and two opposed rearward points), rigidifying the underlying skirts intermediate the respective points of connection. Additionally, the respective skirts have a forwardly extending portion that is formed as a single rounded piece, rigidifying the tree in the crucial wither-shoulder area. This rigidity makes the skirts less able to conform to the body contours of the horse and less able to reduce the magnitude of pounding forces transmitted from the horse to the rider.